A Reaction to “Labor, Liberalism, and the Democratic Party”
Authors
Sanford Jacobi
University of California–Los Angeles
Abstract
(This essay is a response to Nelson Lichtenstein, “Labor, Liberalism, and the Democratic Party: A Fruitful but Vexed Alliance.” Paper available from the author.)Because of the votes it can mobilize, because of its electoral money pots, and because of its lobbying networks, organized labor has been a kingmaker in the Democratic Party for decades. As David Greenstone wrote some 40 years ago, “The emergence of organized labor as a major, nationwide electoral organization of the national Democratic party represents the most important change in the structure of the American party system during the last quarter-century,” that is, since 1945.
